After Anderson Silva, Chael Sonnen Wants to Stay Active in 2012

And that could be a slight problem for Sonnen’s goal of getting more than, he says, three fights a year, which is about what healthy UFC fighters average.

“It’s not about anything else – it’s about competition,” Sonnen said. “I hate the fact that we only fight three times a year. I hate the fact that I’ve got to go to bed at night wondering, ‘I wonder how I’d do with this guy, or what this guy’s skills would do with mine.’

“Well, let’s just find out. Let’s get in there a lot more often. Let’s fight all these guys.”

Sonnen said he understands why it can’t happen and doesn’t happen, but the Division I All-American wrestler from the University of Oregon longs for the days of the kind of competition that had him wrestling many opponents a day.

It's almost impossible to have more than three UFC fights under your belt in the course of a single year these days. The fact that Donald Cerrone was able to make five appearances in 2011, albeit a couple of times as a short-notice replacement, is amazing.

But with the amount of shows the UFC is now putting on, it's not impossible. Fans and fighters alike have recently been calling for a thinning out of the talent pool. The recent rash of injuries has obviously decimated the lineups for upcoming UFC shows, leaving ticket holders to look forward to matchups featuring a serious lack of star power since that is all the UFC can muster at the moment. If they started stacking the cards as in years past, problems and wishes would go away and be granted at the same time.